Fear, love and self-sacrifice
Submitted by Jules on January 24 2002 17:42:14
In reply to Hearts for Christ submitted by Bach on January 23 2002 16:43:52
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...and how much I agree that we must be ruled by love rather than fear. I was brought up in an environment where it was assumed that God had certain absolute standards, but that we might have misunderstood some of them, and so, if there is a "grey area", where it's not clear what God's "standard" is, it's better to err on the side of caution, to avoid going against God's standards. Looking back on this now, I can see that this only resulted in distance from God, rather than love for him. If you're afraid of offending someone, you don't get intimate; you back off. It's the same at work: if you don't know what your boss expects, you're going to be afraid of trying anything new, and never get beyond doing the same thing all the time. I think it was probably this false idea of God that held me back from actually loving him, more than anything else. And it also stopped me seeing the real purpose of everything Jesus said, which is to let our actions be guided by love for each other, not by fear. God isn't upset by us doing what we think best, when guided by love, but I rather think he is upset by us keeping our distance from him. Another way of thinking about it: Jesus encouraged us to think of our relationship with God to be like a child's relationship with their parent. We may be used to thinking of this in term of how we should behave to be "good children." But think of if from God's point of view as the parent. If you're a parent, how do you want your children to behave: Do you want them to be cautious and never try anything new because they're afraid of offending you, or do want them to have the freedom to follow their own developing conscience, even though they might make some mistakes which they will learn from, and you sometimes have to correct them. Surely, as a parent, you want to encourage the second attitude! That's how your children will grow up to be mature, responsible adults. So surely that's what God wants for us as well! I love the way you drew out Jesus' teaching about love for God and neighbour being central to what it's all about. But Jesus also practised what he preached. He loved God and his neighbour by his ultimate self-sacrifice. He went to death in obedience to his own teaching! And yet, as you've quoted, he said, "Do this and you will live." I spent quite a while thinking about that. For Jesus, the way to true life was the way of the cross. It was the way to real life because beyond the cross he rose again. When he tells us to love God and neighbour, he is telling us to follow the way of self-sacrifice, and so he is not asking us to do anything that he has not already done himself. One verse that came to mind thinking about this board recently was Isaiah 53:7, which is often applied to Jesus: He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Maybe this should be our approach to insults as well, when things get heated here. God bless you Bach. With Christian love, Jules |
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